Sunday Speculations

1. Sean and I started watching Nip/Tuck last night. I know, I know I'm so behind the times. I usually don't start watching or buying things until several years after everyone else has. So far I really like it, although I could do without the graphic blood and surgery scenes. Makes me want to yak.

2. I signed up for my second 5K today. It's called the Shamrock Run and is taking place in exactly 13 days. After being a bum and then going on vacation for 2 weeks, I obviously didn't run like I had been. I'm working on it and I hope by race day I'll be able to beat my last 5K time.

3. As a sidenote, I wanted to add that the purse that I posted about yesterday can only evidently be found on the Forever 21 European website. I apologize for any confusion on that. (Luckily I have an Italian friend who said she'd buy it for me)

4. It's raining here...again. I just hope it stops before next weekend. I'm supposed to go to Carnevale in Venice with my best Italian friend.

5. Sean and I were watching 16 & Pregnant earlier and I noticed something. Why are almost all the girls on that show so....white trashy? I really am not trying to offend anyone and I'll be the first to admit that I have family members that can be kind of redneck at times, but seriously? It's like every girl on there fits that stereotype. I just don't get it.

6. When I say I have the naughtiest dog ever, I mean it. While Sean and I were engrossed in Guitar Hero the other day, Boomer took it upon himself to eat my leftover steak. I only noticed it when I found A1 on my blanket.

7. I'm thinking about buying a web domain to host my blog on and in the future to host my photography. For those that have bought a domain, any suggestions?

Spring Fashion Faves

The last few days I've been browsing around the web and stumbled upon a few spring items that I'm really loving. I'm also throwing into the mix a truly hideous item I found as well.



See this bag? It was love at first sight for me. Something about it just makes me want to order it right this very minute. Since I still have a giftcard to Forever 21 that I haven't used, I might just do that.



Old Navy has their first wave of swimwear out and I've already spotted a few suits that I like. I'm a huge lover of plaid and turquoise, so this suit was a natural pick for me.



Old Navy had dresses similiar to this a couple of years ago and I missed out on buying one. Luckily they are back again!



All I can say for this shirt is, "What were you thinking Old Navy?" Don't get me wrong, I love retro inspired prints, but the color just doesn't work for me or the print in this case. Not my cup of tea at all.



I really, really love capris. I envy girls that can wear them and wear them well. Something about my body shape just doesn't go well with capris, but a girl can dream. Right?

Also, thanks to everyone for the kind words and support yesterday. I really do appreciate it. And to those that asked if we have USAA renter's insurance, we do, so perhaps I'll give them a call and see if anything can be done.

So Very Angry

I'm so angry at the military today that I can't even do my normal MilSpouse Friday Fill-In.

As most of you know, Sean hurt his back while he was deployed and came back early from this deployment. So..the only stuff that got brought back to Italy was the stuff he was carrying with him. We got one box of stuff after the guys redeployed that had a few pieces of his equipment, a few books and about 10 movies. The guys assured him that they packed up the rest of his stuff and it would be coming back with the main shipment of stuff.

Fast forward to today and he tells me nothing else made it back. NOTHING. That includes equipment, tons of DVDs (including a bunch he borrowed from me) a whole folder of PSP games, everything that people sent him in care packages and pictures I sent him of me and Boomer. It's all gone. GONE. Nobody seems to know where it is. I call B.S. on that. You can't tell me they just decided to leave his stuff there for the next unit, knowing he wasn't coming back. Besides...what happened to the guys saying they'd packed up his stuff. Where in the heck is it?!

I'm just so angry right now that I'm actually crying. I know it's just stuff, but we're lower enlisted living on one salary. We can't replace the personal stuff. It would probably be at least $300 plus to replace it.

I'm just done with today.

Amsterdam Pics and Commentary

The second stop on our trip was Amsterdam. After the chilly weather in Berlin, we were glad to be somewhere where it was a tad bit warmer and the sun was shining. Unfortunately that weather only lasted the first day we were there. The second day Sean and I almost got blown off bridges by the 40mph wind gusts.

Weather aside, I enjoyed Amsterdam. I liked that the city was very English friendly, because let's be honest, I don't speak a word of Dutch. People were very friendly and helpful, which is always a plus. The downside was that Amsterdam was expensive. Food, accommodations, entertainment were all more expensive here then in most of the other cities we visited.

Speaking of accommodations, where we stayed in Amsterdam was probably the most unusual place we stayed on our trip. I picked a hostel that just happened to be on a houseboat. Overall, I liked it. The boat could have used some fresh paint and a little fixing up, but the staff was nice, our bed was super comfortable and the breakfast was great.



Our accomodations



The view inside our room. Note Sean under the bed turning down the radiator.

The first day we were there we walked around to get a feel for the city and what it was like. There were two main things I wanted to see while we were in Amsterdam: The Anne Frank House and the Van Gough Museum. The first day, while walking through the Jordaan neighborhood, we decided to stop at the Anne Frank House.



One of the sights on our walk to the Anne Frank House. Notice the really skinny house in the middle!



Outside the Anne Frank House. Of course, no pictures were allowed in the museum, which I always find a bit disappointing. However, I really recommend going there if you are ever in Amsterdam. I found it to be very moving and seeing Anne's diary was just incredible.



I couldn't help but laugh when I saw this. Although as a small child I might have been frightened.



Of course, being in Amsterdam Sean had to have Heineken.

I have to say that being in Amsterdam and smelling marijuana everytime I passed a coffeshop was an interesting experience. It seems though as if you are going to make it legal then you should follow their lead. I never felt unsafe while I was in Amsterdam, of course I didn't go looking for trouble either.



Another canal shot on our walk around Amsterdam.



This was the view from outside our boat. Gorgeous!

The second day we were in Amsterdam I wanted to go check out the flower market and we decided on the Van Gough museum. I was a bit sad that it's not quite time for tulips, so I missed out on seeing a lot of those, but there were a few and I loved seeing the wooden shoes.



I wanted a pair, but they wouldn't fit in my suitcase.



I did get treated to seeing a few flowers while I was at the market.



I looked for this all over and finally found it on the way to the Van Gough Museum. (I am aware the m is a bit cut off, I have yet to stich this photo with another to complete it. Bad photographer, I know!)

The Van Gough Museum was great. One of my favorite art museums I've been in. I'm not sure Sean was impressed, but I was. It was amazing to see the painting Sunflowers in person and to see some of his lesser known work. The museum was a bit pricey, but worth it in my opinion.



I'd never seen this painting before, but it was Sean's favorite and I have to admit it's a bit intriguing. ( I didn't take this picture, I found it from google search)

If you're ever in Amsterdam, stop at a care and get a toastie. We had a basic ham and cheese toastie and it was awesome. Best sandwich of the trip. Other cuisine we enjoyed while we were there was Thai food and one night I also had falafel at a local place. I enjoyed the mix of different food cultures.



See all the bikes on the bridge? I've never seen so many bikes in one city in my life. Seriously, they were everywhere. A lot of them also had extra toys on top so you could identify them, or little wheelbarrow looking attachments on the front, for your kids, groceries, etc.

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:



Hope you enjoyed the recap!

VLOG: Question of the Day

I've been inspired by a few other bloggers out there that have recently done a VLOG or have been talking about it. I thought after 3.5 years of blogging that it was time I did one too.

I apologize for the sound quality, you might have to turn it way up. My webcam doesn't have the greatest sound recording.

My Paleo Experience

As some of you may remember, I decided to give the Paleo way of eating a try back in January. I told myself I'd do it for 30 days and see what I thought of it. Click here for the previous post.

I did well eating Paleo until the last week and then because I was sick I decided to be a big baby and only eat Paleo for breakfast and supper.

Pros:
I felt much better eating Paleo. No bloating, no stomach cramps.
More energy for my workouts and day to day
For the most part I like what my food options are: veggies, nuts, meats, some fruit
I found out I LOVE almond butter, it's just expensive

Cons:
The first few days I craved sugar hardcore. Even though I thought I didn't normally eat that much sugar, it was quite apparent that I really missed it once it was gone.
Not eating dairy or pasta. Living in Italy and not eating pasta was quite frankly, hard. The last few months I've been drinking raw milk and I craved that a lot too.
Eating paleo here was a bit expensive and also I felt like I didn't have access to some of the fats/meats that I would have access to in the States. Kind of a bummer.

On my vacation I didn't eat Paleo at all and I haven't since I got back. I thought once I was done with it, that I'd probably never eat that way again, but the last few days I've been thinking about going back on it. I think for me there will be a few exceptions though. There are those out there that do eat some dairy with their Paleo lifestyle and things that I like, such as kefir and raw milk are on the list of "Acceptable dairy". I've been favoriting Paleo websites the last few days and feel like I have a better array of recipes to choose from then I did before. I'm not saying I won't eat pasta or risotto or a Reeses Peanut Butter cup, but I think those things will be showing up in my eating habits a little less.

I'm not sure I'll ever eat 100% Paleo, but I can see the merits of eating that way and for now I think I'll go back to trying to stick with it.

A Little Scandalous

While driving through Sicily on our vacation we found a few channels that played new music. It kind of surprised me when we first moved to Europe and I heard all the unedited songs on the radio. Sicily was no exception to this rule. Sean and I are driving along to Mt. Etna and we hear the new Enrique Iglesias song, "Tonight..I'm Loving You" except it wasn't the Loving you version, but the unedited vesion.

Sean turns to me and says, "Is he really saying tonight I'm ****ing you?"

Ha! It was a bit unexpected, I'm not sure I've ever heard that particular word played on mainstream radio.

I have to admit, the song is really catchy and I'm a sucker for a good beat or anything that makes me want to dance, so I downloaded the edited version when we got back home. Then I went on a search for the video. Even the video is a bit....how should I say it? Scandalous.

Perhaps I think so because I'm just a sheltered girl from the Midwest, but Enrique's videos just seem to get a big more risque with each one.



Have you seen it? Do you like the song?